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TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ELLA IDE
Fabio Matacchiera, ecologist who denounces pollution of the Ilva steel plant, reads obituaries pasted at the entrance of a building in the Tamburi district on March 18, 2015 in Taranto. The site in Taranto in the Puglia region of southern Italy, which employs over 14,000 people, has been under special administration since 2013 when its owners, the Riva family, were accused of failing to prevent toxic emissions including carcinogenic particles from spewing out across the town. As the main blast furnace at one of Europe's most polluted steelworks belches its last toxic cloud, activist Fabio Matacchiera is the only person celebrating. In the impoverished city of Taranto, work that causes cancer is preferable to starving. AFP PHOTO / ALFONSO DI VINCENZOALFONSO DI VINCENZO/AFP/Getty Images